Dixie blasts past D-Hills; Warriors win big again

ST. GEORGE – Dixie made a statement with its road win over Desert Hills Friday night. Snow Canyon said plenty as well, routing Cedar. And Canyon View grabbed a road region win over Pine View, signaling the Falcons intent to be a playoff team.

All that happened on a busy Friday night in Region 9 soccer. Here’s a recap:

Dixie 4, Desert Hills 0

Playing without ill coach Burt Myers, the Dixie defense stole the show at Desert Hills Friday night. Goalkeeper Kieran Atkin and his defensive-minded teammates barely allowed the Thunder a sniff at the goal. DH’s one real scoring chance came on a penalty kick in the first half when the Flyers held a slim 1-0 lead.

“Desert Hills is missing Ben Simister, which is huge, and they’ve got a few guys coming back from some hard knocks and some injuries, but that missed PK was a big moment,” Dixie assistant coach Travis Wilkinson said. “When they missed that, you could see them hang their heads. They could have leveled the game right there.”

Not long after the missed PK, Andy Rich received a perfect lead pass, outran his defender and blasted one to the left of the goalkeeper to make it 2-0 with 12 minutes to go until halftime.

“We got that second goal and then things started to get away from them,” Wilkinson said. “Our boys really worked hard this week. We studied film and tried to work on things that would exploit what we think are their weaknesses.”

Dixie’s athleticism neutralized Desert Hills star Kelton Holt and the Flyers always had an answer when the Thunder would penetrate deep into Dixie territory.

“We have a really good back line this year and they’re going to be the key to our success,” Atkin said. “If I only have to make one or two saves a game, there’s no team that’s going to beat us.”

A third goal on a beautiful turnaround strike by Xavi Flores in the box made it 3-0 with halftime still more than five minutes away. DH keeper Preston Hodges lay on the turf in disbelief after the scorching grounder. A PK goal by Oscar Quintero made it 4-0 early in the second half and even the home fans could read the writing on the wall after that.

“Honestly, I was just so excited,” Atkin said. “Having lost 4-3 to these guys last year, then coming out here and making a statement tonight, it just feels amazing. It was all about our intensity tonight.”

Quintero, who scored the first goal of the game as well, now has six on the season. Flores and Rich both have four this year. Atkin recorded his third shutout of the year.

Snow Canyon 7, Cedar 0

The defending champs had no problem with the visiting Redmen, cruising to a 6-0 halftime advantage before coach Marc Wittwer called off the dogs.

Yetzel Carrillo scored his first goal of the season … and his second … and his third, as he recorded a hat trick. Ben Kemp notched two net-finders, his third and fourth of the season. Also scoring for the Warriors were Cole Trotter and Richard Nino-Vichi.

Austin Mild and Kaden Loveless teamed up for the shutout.

Wittwer praised the play of his defense, in particular: “Solid performance from Jackson Gates, Alex Tholen, and Sean Keetch on the back line,” he said.

Canyon View 3, Pine View 2 (F/OT)

The Falcons, who won Region 12 last season before losing in the state quarterfinals to Logan, got their first points with a win Friday at Panther Field.

Canyon View led 1-0 and 2-1, but had to earn the win in the second overtime period as the Panthers kept rallying. Mark Gibson notched his second goal of the game and his fifth of the season to end the contest and give CVHS the road victory.

It was tied 2-1 at halftime with Marlin Borst giving the Falcons the lead in the first half. Pine View tied it with 17 minutes to play in regulation and it stayed that way until the closing seconds of the second 10-minute OT period. That’s when Gibson blasted one through with 10 seconds left on the clock.

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About the Author

Andy Griffin has been in sports media since 1989 and has covered BYU, Utah State and the Utah Jazz as well as all sports in southern Utah. A journalism graduate of USU, Andy has carried on a dual career as both a sports writer and a sports broadcaster and has been heard around the country. He has also been published in USA Today, Sport magazine, The Sporting News, Fairways magazine, the Los Angeles Times and locally in the Deseret News, the Salt Lake Tribune and the Spectrum. Andy was “The Voice of Region 9 sports,” for many years. He also hosted a daily sports talk show for three years called AG in the a.m.
Andy has been married to his college sweetheart Shelly for 28 years and has five children ages 13 to 25.